NJ Politician Proposes License Plates For Bicycles

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – If a proposed bill becomes law in New Jersey, bicyclists will have to pay to register bikes or face a fine.

The bill, introduced by Democratic New Jersey assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker of Essex, requires owners to register bikes with the Motor Vehicle Commission for $10 dollars a piece or face fines up to $100. A license plate would be issued and will have to be displayed when riding on public roads. Plates would be valid for two years.

John Boyle with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia is against the proposed bill.

“Her office has an issue with bicyclists on the sidewalks,” he said. “We are asking our New Jersey members and people in the state of New Jersey to contact their state assembly representatives and ask them to oppose this legislation,” Boyle said.

Boyle says the enforcement will be almost impossible. He believes it would also be a drain on police resources and a financial burden to some.

One Comment

This happens in various states every once in a while. Similar to this case, lawmakers quickly realize that it’s unworkable because they can’t set the fee high enough for it to even pay for the administration cost (without it seeming unreasonably high to the average person who buys a $100 department store bike). But it’s a misguided notion in the first place. It’s a FACT that someone who bicycles (and doesn’t drive at all) actually subsidizes people who drive, if you compare the relative wear and tear on roads with how much each person contributes to road construction and maintenance. Roads are not paid for fully by motorists – user fees (like gas tax) account for only a fraction of the total costs of road construction and maintenance. Most streets (except State and Federal Highways, which make up only a small fraction of our roads) are funded primarily through property tax and other sources that aren’t user fees.

Cyclists are already required to obey the rules of the road, licensing wouldn’t change that. But obviously enforcement for cyclists is lax enough that we see red light running and other behavior by many cyclists. Just like enforcement for motorists is lax enough that everyone knows they can go 5 to 10 mph over the speed limit and we see lots of motorists making right turns on red and going through stop signs without stopping. People are people and will break rules when it is to their advantage and they know they can get away with it, and they feel that it is “harmless”.

Bionic Beverly you are truly a moron whose world is as insular as your behavior. You CUT off cyclists as they try to pass you at a stop light. Do you realize in most state cyclists and motorcyclists are ALLOWED to lane split? FACT.
You you also realize that cyclists and motorcyclists in many states are ALLOWED to pass a red light after stopping to make sure coast is clear. FACT, check your DMV of local police dept.

Reason: bicycles and motorcycles DO NOT trigger th sensors beneath the ground and if we weer to “obey your rules” we’d be sitting there until the sun set and the light would not change for us.

Next time you feel like taking out your aggressions on an innocent cyclist that has nothing to do with the choices you’ve made in your life that make you so miserable and angry, they might be a police officer or government official with a licensed weapon on their possession.
THINK about that before you try to knock someone off their bike next time, do you REALLY want to chance who that person is on the bicycle? Be smart lady, aggression can backfire in a blink and the fault would be no one but yours.

Give all cyclists, motor or foot powered ,ample room because road irregularities that are unnoticed in a car can cause us to swerve to avoid it or fall right in front of you. Don’t tailgate us because we can stop on a dime and give change back, your car can not!

But of course the amount of breath tax should also be based on how much fresh air you actually use. This way people could hold their breath to help reduce their taxes, …and should flatulence be included?

I think it should be 20 bux a year plus, use of bike trails should require additional registration fees as well as all hikers must pay a fee too just like fisherman and hunters do, the proceeds should go to fixing our parks and aquirring more land, why is it ONLY FISHING/HUNTING LICENCES ARE REQUIRED YET HIKERS USING SAME AREAS PAY NOTHING? IVE SEEN PLENTY OF HIKERS LITTER OUR PARKS AS WELL AS CYCLISTS THEY SHOULD PAY FEES LIKE EVERYONE ELSE…

The difference between hunters and fishermen and Hikers is that hikers don’t reduce the amount of wildlife. Fishermen take the fish, hunters take the turkeys and deer. Hikers just walk on the ground. Contrary to your unsubstantiated ‘survey’, I see very little of any trash left by hikers, hunters or fishermen. The people (hunters, hikers and fishermen) who leave trash are usually those that do not often use New Jersey’s natural facilities. If you still insist on taxing ‘walking’ you also include tax hikes for hunters as they not only hunt but also hike to their destinations so they should pay for both ‘services’.

Being from Chicago I like the idea, I am also an avid bicyclist. Here in the windy city we now have the highest fuel prices in the country therefore a lot more bike traffic is being created which I am fine with I even rather like but herein lies the problem…People don’t know the bike laws, they don’t signal, they don’t stop, etc…etc…etc…I think a registration would enable more accountability and allow riders to be fined when not following the laws. NOT for revenue generation but for LIFE safety! It is beginning to get out of hand (at least in the downtown area)

I am from Chicago also. I completely agree. People can commit crimes on bicycles and get away. We do have the police cameras on many light poles, but more security is needed. In addition, this will provide much needed revenue.

Chicago had to sell off their parking meters to a foreign wealth fund in order to pay their bills, now Chicago can’t even close down their streets for a parade without asking a foreign power. Think about that, foreign powers now control a major American cities streets. To top it off, they now charge five dollars an hour for parking. The moral of this story is never listen to an idea on taxation that comes from the mouth of anyone from Chicago.

x2, this is absolutely ridiculous. WE ARE NOT A SOCIALIST NATION. Please leave us alone. What about during a bike race, triathlons? What about community bike sharing? whose responsibility is it if the plate is stolen? are older bikes grandfathered? I will never support this.

“If a proposed bill becomes law in New Jersey, bicyclists will have to pay to register bikes or face a fine. and if you don’t pay fine you go to jail for 6 months for owning a bike, that sounds about right.

Why does this not surprise us? Maybe the politicians ought get their hands out of our pockets and deal with fraud, corruption and waste of tax payers money, now there’s a thought.

I live in a small rural town in Northern California. Our roads are narrow and winding and have become very popular with bicylists from San Francisco who drive out to ride their bikes here. Our roads have the normal traffic of large milk trucks, cement trucks, schoolbuses, and people like myself who need to get to work. It’s difficult to pass a single rider on a narrow blind curve, and often a dozen or more cars travelling 15mph will be backed up behind a cyclist, waiting to pass. Many times groups of 30 bikes or more will form a blockade, not allowing anyone to pass them, until some frustrated driver attempts a totally unsafe maneuver to go around them. The county’s attempt to deal with this problem was to install 25 “Share the Road” signs at a cost of $700,000 (yes, that’s right! Funding for the “study group” included.) I demand that these recreational riders be licensed, registered, and insured. At some point there will be a horrific accident, blamed no doubt on some innocent parent driving on the road his gasoline taxes pay for, just trying to get his kid to school on time.

It is unbelieveable to me just how ignorant Americans are these days. Lew, do you not realize that gas taxes pay for very little if any actual roads? Local roads are paid for by the county government that gets their monies from taxing property and business owners. Forcing cyclists to become licensed would be a burden on law enforcement that simply could not be justified. Printing the plates alone wouldn’t be cost effective. If you were actually forced to perform due diligence on this issue, you would soon discover the truth – most road cyclists are car drivers and home owners who already suffer enough taxation without proper representation these days. Most cyclists do have insurance (i.e., car, health, and life). And if a parent hit a cyclist, especially from behind, they should be jailed for wreckless driving.

You are a dolt who has no reasoning, otherwise you would know that peletons usually (almost always) break down into single file riders to let cars go by. The process doesn’t happen immediately, but it does happen.No one is trying to create a “blockade,” only a blockhead would think that. Pull your head out of your arse and get real – we’re not the ones poluting the environment all of the time with our carbon chugging, gasoline swallowing SUVs that get less than 20MPG. Look at the fingers pointing back in your direction before you begin pointing the finger at us!

It’s a great idea. Bike riders use roads the same as car owners. The roads have to be maintained and in several cities portions of the roads are marked for bicyclists. Bike riders should also be subject to the same penalties for infractions as drivers and subsequent fines. Where I live some roads with two lanes have been reduced to one lane to allow bikers a safety zone. I have nothing against bike riders but they should pay their fair share. Another issue should be charging people an annual fee for handicap placards as they are provided prime parking places.

Yo, Jeffile, so what you’re saying is that those VETERANS, like me, who served in Iraq and Afganistan who lost limbs due to roadside car bombs or IEDs should have to pay extra money for being allowed to park a little closer to the store than you who still has the use of both of your legs? So you’re saying that my legs weren’t enough sacrifice for you huh? You simple-minded twit! Think before you speak! This is the reason people in government make some of the asinine decisions that beome laws, because they listen to blithering idiots like you who are narcissistic and only think about yourself. I was willing to give up life, limbs, and my own pursuit of happiness for your freedom. The least you could do is afford me the courtesy of a hadicap parking spot.

I’m a cyclist and I’m tired of people saying that I don’t “pay taxes” to contribute to the roads, bike trails, etc. I pay income tax, sales tax, property tax, gas tax because I (as well as most cyclists) am also a motorist, vehicle registration tax, here a tax there a tax everywhere a tax, tax. I pay for it. I don’t need yet another tax because people are offended by my existence on a bicycle. I can’t believe people are so in favor of being so quick to increase the tax burden. Here’s an idea, hold officials in your city accountable and make them stop spending!!!

Smokers said the same thing when taxes on cigarettes were raised not so long ago. Everyone who didn’t smoke said “Oh, well. I don’t smoke so I don’t care”. Then some areas implemented ‘tanning tax’ for those who use tanning beds. Those who don’t use tanning beds said “I don’t tan so I’m not worried about it. Let those with the vanity pay more for their pursuit”. Now it’s someone elses turn to be unfairly taxed and they want everyone else to support their efforts to not pay additional taxes. When the other taxes were implemented I tried to tell everyone we should all stand together and fight these taxes or a time would come when there would be taxes accessed against each group independently. I was told “Shut up; they can’t tax what I do”. Well, guess what! They CAN and they WILL if we allow it to happen. Don’t count on the smokers or tanners to fight for you; they are already being taxed because no one was willing to stand with them against the taxman.

@10 ring, I totally agree with you, I see the writing on the wall. But smokers did NOT want to make a stand against it, smoking is NOT a productive past time as is cycling. Tanning is more of a vanity thing, I am black and really cant understand why some of my white friends feel a need to look more like me. To each his own. However, cycling is a win win activity on any level, smoking and tanning is not. The law got squashed anyway thanks in part to Assemblywoman Grace Spencer of NJ. She is an avid cyclist and a member of the Major Taylor NJ chapter of club cyclists.

And most people still believe that we live in a free country. We need permission from the government to do pretty much anything in this state anymore. It’s getting to the point where you cannot live normally without breaking some kind of federal or state law. They are turning everyone into lawbreakers.

Bicyclist, who think its their RIGHT to ride on congested 2 lane roads during high traffic, need to be made to pay road taxes and insurance to ride said bicycle. Don’t tell me you already pay those things for your car because those are for your car, not for your bike. They also need to be made to obey traffic lights. If the light is red, you stay there until it turns green, just like any other vehicle. Bicyclist also need to be made to not be allowed to squeeze in between cars and the curb to try to get ahead of everyone else so when light turns green they impede the same people who already got around them once. I make my car “catywompas” when I see a bicyclist trying to get around me like this. I put my front wheel at the curb and my back end almost touching the car in the lane next to me so the bicyclist can’t get around me, lol. Its high time these nitwits understand roads are for cars.

And if they were in cars like you, it would be even more congested. You should be thanking them. Cyclists running red lights without stopping at all is dangerous. Cyclists proceeding through a red light after determining that there are no cars or pedestrians crossing is the safest practice, for you them and for you. It puts them ahead of traffic where they are more clearly visible, especially to turning motorists. They also don’t have to wait in the midst of all of your pollution, right behind your tail pipe.

Frankly, bionicbeveverly, you are an idiot. Given that we are not preparing for it nearly adequately enough, the end of cheap oil is going to be devastating. But in a twisted way, it’s going to be real satisfying to see naive idiots like you floundering without your guzzler.

“Tax For” ?? Once upon a time there was a tax on gasoline and diesel oil for the maintenance the road system. Once upon a time there was a Social Security Fund for paying people should they live long enough to be eligible. There are many ‘once upon a times’, but in the course of time our greedy leaders needed more and more money to feed and grease their empires. Dedicated funds were tossed in the ‘general fund’ which was used for buying votes. Now the tyrants don’t want to give up their private slush funds. Social Security is frozen and they want to condition the sheep for the eventual termination so that these funds can go to their rightful owners — the unions

Herman, I, too, am an older cyclist. I used to have one of those bikes back in the 70s that had the registration sticker on my downtube. Yes, it only cost a couple of buck, but thieves could easily remove it, and police and governing officials eventually realized that the cost of printing those things was more expensive than the fees being charged. Knowing your bike’s VIN # or SN # is more important and helpful in retrieving a stolen bike. So, like others have already said, this is a waste. Also, they’re talking about actual tags, like the ones on cars; where would you install it on a bike? Besides where my pannier hangs under my seat, there is nowhere else. Plain and simply, this is another knee-jerk reaction by a political hack who probably hasn’t ridden a bike since she was a child. Plus, how ridiculous is it to force every single child in America to have their $30 Wal-mart bike registered for more money than the bike is actually now worth?

I grew up in Superior Wisconsin, a city at the western end of Lake Superior in the 40’s and we had to pay a quarter to register our bikes and got a plate to put on them. So, what is the big deal???? They were then registered with the police dept and if stolen and found later they knew whose bike it was. Bikers certainly could contribute to all the lovely bike trails they love so much.

A better and bigger idea is to require each citizen to display a plate or barcode on their backsides. It would raise way more revenue and it would be easy to enforce compliance. One could even have customized messages and logos — the possibilities for revenue are endless.

Not such a nice comment from “MrNiceGuy.” I thought the ditty was funny, and right on. I mean, look, we’re blaming global warming for everything these days and trying to make people pay for their carbon emissions – does that include my breathing one day….maybe. The government has gone so far overboard, there is no longer a functioning government for the people by the people. It is a government of slothful, lazy politicians who want their palms greased with taxpayer dollars. Well, I’m tired of it! I believe in conserving and I only own one incandescent lightbulb in my entire house, the rest are cf bulbs, but I’m doing it to save money, not because anyone says I have to. You keep proposing to pass more asinine laws and one day there really will be anarchy in the streets of America when we have to pay $5.00 a gallon for gas and milk. So, keep these bright ideas coming and what you get will be what you deserve.

A license plate is not required to cite a person for reckless cycling and/or disobeying laws of the road. This bill was introduced probably as a reflection of the will of the people of Essex, NJ. If it is something you want for your area, then contact your representative.

I’m with you, indyracefan… I mean, just yesterday I got in my car to go to my mailbox at the end of my driveway and I sees these people walking along the road that my car and fuel taxes pay for and i think to myself “who are these people with their unlicensed/ unregistered shoes walking for free on these roads? Why aren’t those shoes licensed?” I, for one, am tired of it and am glad to see you are too.

I’m sorry but cyclists have every right to be on the roads as motorists. I am a cyclist and I pay my property, income, and sales taxes. Since I can’t get everywhere on bicycle (especially in winter) or get my groceries on bicycle I must own an automobile. I also pay taxes on it, both the registration and excise taxes. I am not getting these roads “for free.” I pay my taxes like everyone else and I have every right to be on the road. Also my bicycle weighs about 20lbs, which is about 1/200th the weight of a passenger car. The amount of wear on the road caused by my bicycle is quite negligible.

I wonder who these bicycle hatemongers are anyway. Did someone steal their bike when they were a kid? Or did Santa Claus forget to deliver a bike to them on Christmas morning? Why all of the hate and angst toward those who simply want to get some exercise and breathe fresh air? Have you no soul or has your soul died with your dream of owning your very own bike? It really makes me wonder – “What in the heck is wrong with you people?”

Roads are not paid for fully by motorists – user fees account for only a fraction of the total costs of road construction and motorists. It’s a FACT that someone who bicycles (and doesn’t drive at all) actually subsidizes people who drive, if you compare the relative wear and tear on roads with how much each person contributes to road construction and maintenance.

IMHO, I think this is a great idea. Maybe not in rural areas but our urban areas where cyclists share the roads with cars and crowd our trails. Here in Washington, D.C., we have a very popular bike and HIKE trail that is used as a speed way by Armstrong-esque knuckleheads who have mowed down more than a few pedestrians. We also have bikers on our busy streets who don’t obey the traffic laws causing accidents and even deaths (most often to themselves). There’s no way to identify these offenders. So bravo, bring it to D.C.!

Damage is done to roads due to weight. A bicycle weighs 20 Pounds, a car 3000 Pounds. Make the fees per pound. At 50 cents per pound charge a 20# bicycle $10 and a $3000# car $1500. A 6000# Hummer, $3000.

Typical. They can afford a $5000 bike, so they probably pay a significant amount of taxes (including gas and highway taxes). Quit being jealous little &^%es because you’re jealous that they are wealthier and in better shape than you.

OMFG! You have to be kidding me! I can see it now… Little 6 year old Jimmy riding his brand new bike to school after getting it for his birthday… As he gets home police are sitting at the bike racks waiting for him and all other non-licensed children… The Bike Plate sting is a success!

Gas tax is suppose to be “road use tax”. How do we get that out of Hybids and plug in vehicles. Bikes don’t create road damage but cars do so the hybrids get another free ride on top of the tax break they were given when they were purchased.
Look to Seattle for good bike lanes and regulations before trying to create another department that is clueless in N.J.

Not that anyone will see this, but what causes a road to deteriorate is the weight and numbler of wheel/axle loads that pass over it, and the correlation is exponential in that, the amount of damage one pass of a semi truck imposes on the road is equal to some 5,000 passenger vehicles, even though the weight of a semi truck is only about 20 times heavier than a car. This is why the taxes on trucks and diesel is higher than on cars and gasoline. The amount of damage a bicycle would impart on the road is not even measurable. If only bicycles were to use the road, the road would last until weather and nature had eroded it away.

Cyclists also need to OBEY traffic laws, as they are required to do. They should also be registered & insured, if they truly wish to “share the road”. Think you should blow through stop signs & red lights, just because you’re on a bicycle? Then you should be cited. Wanna be stupid? Then be treated as such.

RaulJones I already pay for registration with my drivers license, am covered by my insurance and my road use taxes are already paid through my automobile registration and gas taxes. When I ride I leave the car, saving gas, reducing pollution, saving road wear. Now about obeying traffic laws… do you ALWAYS come to a full stop at lights and stop signs? Sure you do. You NEVER go 21 mph or more in a school zone, do you? You ALWAYS signal when changing lanes. If not then you are not obeying traffic laws either. Stop judging cyclists as a collective.

SUPER FAIL! So abandon all your principles and integrity, because one time three bicyclists held you up in traffic. WOW! That’s about the level of sanity I would expect from someone from the East Coast.

For the commenters that declared that cyclist don’t pay anything for the road, you must be suffering from a acute case of RectoCrainial Insertion. I cycle long distance on the roads when ever I have time but I also own 3 cars, pay a ton of gasoline taxes and of course very high real estate taxes. So the idea that cyclist don’t pay for their share of the road is a bad argument. Motorist or cyclist on the road not being considerate to others is a whole other matter.

Dude- you must have CranialRecto Insertion affliction. (the way you said it, the recto goes in the cranial) anyway, you have it. There are many costs that go into road maintenance, and now that we have billions of dollars in bike lanes all over the USA… they have been getting allot of use in NYC and Boston the last few months, and months to come (good investment). There are the emergency costs associated with one of you idiots running a stop sign and getting hit, or insurance cost when you split lanes in traffic and scratch the site of my tuck (it is a gas guzzler too 17 mpg), or you pop some pedestrian trying to cross the street with the walk sign. I was in downtown Boston a few weeks ago and they added a bike lane to one of their large streets (Comm Ave?) and now the two car lanes are even smaller… we paid lots of money so a few Bostonian bikes could have a lane for a few warm weather months… and millions of cars on that road every year now have a more dangerous place to drive. (Did you hear that Mr. Insurance) You bike riding Birkenstock wearing tree hugging hypocrites don’t like it when the taxes are aimed directly at you. I am opposed to this and many other taxes, but I applaud the effort to watch you CranialRecto cretins spin on the spit of hypocrisy. Watch yourself when you are out there riding with the cars and trucks.

Can’t speak for anywhere but Louisiana, but bicycles here have the same rights and responsibilities as any other vehicle. Bicycles are ENTITLED to an entire lane, and automobiles are required to keep at least 3 feet away from them when passing. It’s the law here.

The cost of the data base alone is prohibiive. It sounds like a business pumping out black market plates will be a great money maker.
Now you’ll have to worry about the plate being ripped off. More opportunity for identity theft. The crimminals will still riide…but on your stolen bike or plate.
Laws create loop holes for the creative to fill.
Bad Idea!

This has nothing to do with safety or bikes. It’s just another example of a money wasting twit trying to find another way to get a fix of their heroine (money). I wonder if they ever considered cutting spending instead of finding some new stupid way of making more money. I hope the governor sits on her and squashes her.

Who needs a comic section when there are liberals around to amuse us with stupidity?

YES!! Awesome idea. I can’t tell you how many old people walk in front of me while I’m riding my bike. I need some way to identify and report them. After all, we have become a nation of sissies, tattle-tales, and hall monitors.

Who do they have in mind to enforce this stupid law? Do these people not understand that with each new law they make, they make a larger tax bill?? The cost of paying officers to waste their time checking bicycles to see if they’re licensed or not is not off-setting, and puts people ate serious risk when there are other far more dangerous crimes occuring.

When I was a kid we had to license our bikes – cost was $1.00. And the police regularly turned up at the playground across the road from my parents’ house with a van and siezed any bike that didn’t have a license – did a great job of convincing us that the police really were our friends. Yeah.

Wait till they figure out how to tax us for using the earth. Just being alive. The older you are the more it will cost. That way maybe no one will want to get old and they won’t have to kill us with the new Obamacare Bill.

The government only has authority to license vehicles involved in commerce. If you are not doing anything to make money on the roads, you don’t need registration, insurance or a license. That goes for bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles, even trucks if they are only for personal use.

But the ignorant public just keeps on registering and licensing themselves even thought they don’t have to.

Registrations, bike licenses, tab taxes. Just like everyone else who uses the roads with wheelsed vehicles. Have the same depts overseeing auto do it so there’s no expenses that are new.
Raise money and treat everyone equally. oh…driver’s insurance too.

Just posted but saw MDABE80 remark – Agree 100% – bicyclists should also have carry insurance, These people cause accidents too so whose insurance pays if bicycle runs into the side of a car or causes the driver of the car to evade being hit by the bicyclist and then runs into another car because ot the evasive action.

Another issue: In many communities special lanes are being built for bicyclists, and special trails so its about time the users started paying for these extra expenses and the maintenance of same.

Many bicyclists do violate traffic laws and should be fined accordingly. However, special trails are not the answer. Too often, the trails have 10 MPH speed limits and are populated by children; worse, dog walkers on one side with the dog on the other and the leash nearly invisible across the trail. Most serious bicyclists cannot use the trails.

If cyclists are to pay ‘their share’ of costs, are the highways going to be redesigned to accomodate bicycles? Wider clean lanes (shoulders result is constant flats), traffic lights that detect the presence of bicycles and the re-education of motorvehicle drivers who don’t know how to react to bicycles?

Uh, almost all adult bicyclists register their cars and pay taxes. You gonna make a 10 year old cough up 50 bucks a year to ride their bike? How much wear and tear does a bicycle inflict on the roads? Making bicycling easier would decrease car congestion, lead to a healthier population and produce less pollution and greenhouse gases. The registration idea is from a short-sighted bike hater.

This isn’t about the 10 bucks per bike that this will bring in or the projected lessening of “crime” on bicycles. The money collected will not cover the cost of administering the program and that cost will further add to NJ debt. This is about creating and expanding government bureaus, filling them with Democrat voters and expanding the control that the state has over YOU. If you believe other than that, you probably are a leftist Kool Aid advocate.

czechbiker: Ridding the roads of SUV’s and loading them with bicycles is a leftist agenda not conservative. Happy meals being gotten rid of because of weight issues is a leftist ideal not conservatives.

I’m a smoker and do you think the anti-smoking agenda that began 15 years ago or more quietly before that, is not a leftist agenda? It’s not a “health” issue its all about controlling others lifestyle – unless they think you’ll vote for them by supporting your lifestyle and spending billions so you can continue a lifestyle that people die from (not only the active participant but 2nd and 3rd innocent individuals who they infect, directly or indirectly) and even hold concerts for you; hope you get the drift. Also, I’m a conservative, not Republican or Democrat and I know leftist ideals and agendas from gun ownership to “click it or ticket” or deny over-weight medical care while requiring every pharmacist to carry abortion pills who prefer not to.

I happen to know a whole group of Republicans also ride bicycles as well. They ride for health and social reasons. Personally I feel that licensing bicycles is a really lame idea that will end up growing the size of govenrment and will never be able to be enforced without letting real crimes go unchecked.

True there are cyclists that violate the traffic laws, but it is also true that there are motorists that also violate the traffic laws. True there are cyclists that are rude and act in ways that are uncalled for, but the same is true of some motorists.

Most adult cyclists are also motorists who pay for registration and have insurance. When the cyclist is not driving their car and is instead on their bicycle, they are contributing less to the wear and tear of the road than a motorist who drives everywhere they go.

How in the world did this woman get into our state government. I am getting it from healthcare gasoline prices property taxes and on and on. You can count on increases as the years go by. I have to get out of this state

If only you folks had the problems w/ rude cyclists that we have in AZ, you would be in favour of this on grounds of traffic enforcement. Out here, they share the road w/ autos and are expected to obey all traffic laws. Problem is they rarely ever do, always running stop signs and red lights, no regard for pedestrians, and riding two or more abreast to block vehicular traffic outside of the designated bike lane. License them, tax them for the use of the roads, and ticket them like all others who break the laws.

A distinction must be made here. Running the red light without checking first is wrong. Stopping at a red light and then proceeding when safe (for peds and vehicles too) is the safest practice for cyclists. It allows them to go out ahead where cars can see them, especially turning vehicles. Also, why do I have to sit in line behind your tailpipe, breathing in your toxic fumes?

The only time that you should proceed after stopping at a red light is when the light fails to switch. This can happen often on roads when there is no traffic to trip so the light changes. In some states it is written directly into the law that motorcyclists and bicyclists can proceed after stopping if a reasonable amout of time has passed and the light does not change.

Otherwise bicyclist should signal their intentions for turns, stop at lights and stop signs. Cyclists should never ride more that two abreast and should ride single file is the road does not have enough room to handle two abreast riding.

Motorists should yield space of 3 feet from the cyclist. Is some states this is defined in the law. When a bicyclist is turning left or right they are required by law to consume the full lane. When riding or driving slower traffic should stay to the right.

There can be a great deal of distrust between motorist and bicyclists. It’s a little bit of the chicken and the egg track. There are motorists who use their vehicle as a projectile breezing by the cyclist within a few inches presumably to show the bicyclist that they have more rights on the road because they have more weight and girth. With the increased agility of a bicycle and the small amount of space they take, some motorist get really rancled at bicyclist who some how appear to be progressing through traffic faster than the vehicle that they are driving.

I have personally seen and have been a victim of verbal and physical attacks by motorists. It is time for motorist to accept that there will be bicyclists on the road and for bicyclist to follow the rules of the road.

As a side note, while bicycling on the road there are a lot of things that I notice. For instance the increasingly number of motorists who are either distracted with their cell phones texting or trying to drive with their knees while eating in their car. These motorists are a danger to themselves, other motorists and bicyclists as well.

I live in Phoenix and I never noticed an issue with cyclists. Don’t you think it is petty to tax something just because you don’t like it? Do you really think that a $10 tax is going eliminate cyclists from doing the things you don’t like? There are a lot of stupid drivers who violate traffic laws all the time and they are taxed a lot and this does nothing to stop it.

Well, Rich. Have you ever considered that the gas tax, tolls and registration fees don’t even come CLOSE to paying for all of the roads and highways constructed in this country? In fact, a recent PIRG study found that they all fell $600 billion short since 1947. Not to mention the portion of our military budget devoted to securing oil so that we can pay a price at the pump that doesn’t reflect it’s true cost to the country. Now tack on the cost of congestion and environmental degradation, and the cost of health defects from smog and pollution. You really think that you have ponied up? Give me a break.

Oh, I know, maybe everyone who has shoes should also be taxed for walking on the sidewalk. What a POS this is. Just another way for the socialist left to take money from those who have enough to buy a bike and spend it on some BS project that will only line the pockets of their friends.

don’t give the despicable, greedy, thieving politicians any ideas !!! I think that every time a politician lies, he/ she should be fined $1000.00. The state and federal governments would be in the black in no time

This is what Tyranny looks, taste & feels like Northeastern Dem’s!
But you make sure to keep voting Democrat! Eat your Socialism! You have brought it on yourselves! No guns, No Guts and now No freedom to ride your little bikes in peace!

I see that you represent the 28 Th. district of New Jersey, and Irvington is one of the cities you rep. Just saw a report that Irvington has a crime wave almost 3 times higher than that of the U.S.

In fact, irvington is more dangerous than Camden. let’s try this. Go pass your silly law in Bloomfield, Newark , Belleville, an Irvington, and see how it goes. Maybe you should fix up your own back yard, and be responsible to your tax paying constuance. I would love to see where being knocked down by a bicycle compares to your other violent crime in your area.

We have alot of people just making ends meet. For some the only way to get around is by bike. Also alot of these people may not be here legally, and maybe afraid to register.

Also , if you think getting $10 will be tough to get from the poor, try getting a $100 fine. That’s alot more than some motor vehicle fines. No one should be hurt by a reckless cyclist, and they should be punished if caught. But making the many pay for the mistakes of a few is just plan lazy politics.

Just a heads up, Mr. Brilliant, but sociology is not the study of socialism. I know that’s a tough concept to understand for people who lack a degree. However, unfortunately for those who fail to grasp the more complex things in life, our language derives from latin. And consequently, many of the words share common latin root words but do not mean the same thing. Shocker!

Unfortunately that’s what they are teaching now in college. Just look at all the liberal teachers and how all the students coming out of college think they are entitled to government aid. So who is teaching them that?

You got the point there: it is the shepple mentality syndrome: people asking “tax the other too” are the people who would likely spy and report on others for a buck. Spineless comrades doing their civic duty. Ex-communist block generation of emigrants who will rather try to impose their communist mentality than adapt and learn the free country ways of life.

In a free country people stick together and say: do not charge me, him, her or them at all.

Glad I live in Alabama, where taxes are low and law makers are held accountable. This has got to be some of the best comedy on the internet tonight!! Idiot bike riders blocking traffic or idiot law makers trying to tax em’. What gives, who do I pull for in this one???? hahahahahhaa!! BTW, don’t get any ideas moving down here, we like it just the way it is….

Before you know it you won’t only have to license your dog upon adoption, there will be a “walk you rdog” tax or “waking in the park tax”! How about a tax if you don’t scoop your dog poop???
You voted for these people. Warm & tingly yet?
Forgive me if I am wrong in this assumption but aren’t there U.S. citizens who fought & continue to fight for “freedom” in this great country of ours? Little by little every iota of anything we know of as freedom today will and is slowly being chipped away. The government has a choke hold on this country.

I still have my Rahway, NJ bike license card and plate from 1950. It was to register the bike in case it got stolen and to make sure we had a headlight and tail reflector. I don’t know if we had to pay for the license, but we did not have to re-register the bike as long as we owned it.

I say do it! Charge the bike riders. There is nothing more irritating than bikers on the road. They do not obey the traffic laws, and now I will have a way of getting their license number and reporting them for unsafe riding.

This may be hard for you to fathom but most of those bikes cost more than that piece of trash you drive. Most bikers are affluent, own cars, pay more in road and state taxes than you and can probably take your car horn and shove it where you don’t want it.

And you are the expert on what I drive how? Was that your minimum wage earning ass that sold me my car? I think not. So do yourself a favor, don’t assume anything. If you would like to compare income levels, I would be more than happy to share my tax returns with you, if you promise you won’t cry when you are publicly embarrased.

Now, besides that ego that you are carrying around, I suppose your mother doesn’t let you be a man at home.

Most bikers are freaks. They wear gay colors and ride around the roads like they are going to compete in some competition. Thats fine, you yanks stay up there and don’t come down here to Texas then. Ride your bikes, eat your granola and live in your fantasy world.

There is nothing more irritating than a lazy, ignorant person ratting out bikers who are using less resources ie…..Gas.and taking up less space on the road in turn reducing traffic ….take the bus then you wont have to report people you can just sit back and relax….Are you going to be reporting people from you cell phone while driving or are u gonna chase the bikers down endangering others and then write down their plates and then report them? either way its LAME! live and let live!!!!!

Live and let live, that is a fair statement. If you ride your bike on the road that is fine, then I expect you to follow the same rules that drivers have to. You are not entitled to be on the road. If you are, then ride the speed limit, or get the hell out of the way when my gas guzzling big ass truck is behind you.

Eric, talking to an ignoramus is like banging your head into a brick wall. All that will come of it is a headache and blood eventually coming out of your ears. Bucky is to stupid to understand the benefits of cycling. IMO, he’s probably a trucker whose 350lb fat a@s couldn’t fit on a bike to save his life. He probably couldn’t pedal over a mile without his arteries clogging from eating all of those Big Macs at the 101 million McDonalds he’s stopped at over the last 30 years. So don’t argue with ignorance, it’s simply not worth it. Let him die an early death in his cab with all of his Union 76/Gulf/Exxon coffee, doughnuts, and egg salad sandwiches. Good riddance!

Charles, went to the page, and I hope your a young man because you could spend a lifetime trying to undo every bill Cleopatra has touched. Maybe the plates will be like the ez-pass lane on the Ben Franklin bridge everyone uses the lane but no one has the pass

Oh, and lets not forget — the government will require a $40 annual inspection to make sure your bike is safe. Do you know how many children are harmed in bicycle incidents every year? Think of the children.

John, If you are old enough and came from Allentown, Pa you would remember that
60 years ago you had to have a license for your bicycle. It had to pass a policeman’s inspection of brakes, light and bell. I do not remember how much the plate cost but think it was $.50

You would be ridiculous to assume that tolls, gas taxes and registration fees come CLOSE to paying for roads and highways. According to a recent non-partisan report, since 1947, the government has spent $600 billion more on highways than it has made back in taxes, fees, etc. And what about the environmental and congestion costs associated with cars? Cyclists are paying for that, even though they don’t operate cars.

Thomas, seriously now. Do you expect anyone to believe this?
Congress stopped budgeting funds in the ’60’s and placed all revenue in the General Fund. This was done precisely because they wanted to raid the revenues from gas taxes. States did the same with sales tax and the other fees associated with owning a vehicle.
Of what purpose is the DMV other than to provide patronage jobs?
In 2006, EHV earned 700K on tickets issued to people for parking, expire regis etc.
Paid for the Police Depart.

John, I’m a conservative Republican and a teacher. Please, don’t lump all of us into one category as libs, we’re not. Please don’t insult me or my peers who are also not Marxists or Leninists or Socialists. Thank you.

local governments need for money: tax the bikes, charge tax on crosswalks by installing coin devices at every red light: tax the pedestrians too and require medical proof they can walk safely, require walking insurance too – to satisfy the unhappy motorists – , tax the obese citizens for being obese – but use the money to pay the government worker’s pensions and benefits – , tax the unruly kids’ parents – to pay the teachers pensions – , tax the voters for access to the voting polls – to pay for the politicians’ campaigns…. and remember: practice safe government, use kingdoms. If I would be a true democrat politician that is what I would do.

Are you kidding me…. as a biker where would this money go…and whats next runners strollers i ride as safe as i can hard in this area………….can i get a personalized plate saying something ? we aren’t going there

I got a ticket in Athens GA in 1987 for riding a bike on the street without a license plate. I bet they still require one.

Two feelings on this – stupid tax done solely to generate money.. On the other hand, if I see another “same road, same rules, same responsibilities” bumper sticker knowing that the idiot on the bike didn’t pay the $500 + tax that I did for my car, I’m going to puke.

Before you bike supporters get all crazy you better be careful what you are wishing for…How about us who don’t ride bikes demand that not a single dime of gas tax, registration, and licensing fees ever be used again for bike lanes, bike paths, signs, trails, mass transit and so on. Auto tax are and should only be used on roads, thats it and nothing more! You want a bike trail, you pay for it! You want a hiking trail between towns, you pay for it! You want to ride a bus or train, you pay for it. I want to drive a car, and I pay for it! But I am sick and tired of carrying all your free loaders around on my tax dollars!

Amen brother!! I’ve worked in the transportation field for almost 30 years. When I think of the 10’s of millions of dollars that have been WASTED adding bicycle lanes to roadways it makes me sick. The extra 8-10 feet of pavement can add close to $60,000 per mile of road, not to mention the extra cost incurred in buying additional right-of-way.

It wasn’t wasted. The government is simply planning ahead. The politicians and their greedy oil company buds will soon price the middle class (which is going extinct in the former USA) out of motorized transportation. The bike lanes will probably be getting a lot of use in the near future.

As if the gas tax, registration and licensing fees even come CLOSE to paying for the roads you drive on!! I don’t own a car but I can be damn sure my tax dollars have paid for highways and roads that my bicycle doesn’t use and doesn’t beat to pieces the way cars do.

Its fascinating how “group mentality” and stereotyping works in issues such as this. Time to snap out of it my friend, the vast majority of bike riders also own registered cars and drive them. They pay those taxes as well as you. Talk about lost in the woods! Its no wonder people can still be manipulated like sheep when they get stuck on an issue with blinders on.

Plates, no, tax, no, liability insurance or proof of financial responsibility, yes! How often do you go over a hill only to come across a pack of bikes and have to go into the other lane to avoid them? I think that if these folks want to use the public roads as we do that they must at least have some kind of liability insurance or proof of financial responsibility.

Nope it wasn’t stolen from Mexcio, we just had bigger and better guns and were not lazy and needed to take a nap during the middle of the day. You know, if Santa Anna worked a real job, and didn’t insist on taking a nap, you guys might have kept Texas.

Just more Big Brother goofyness brought to you by Progressives. First they try to shame you into riding a bike then they try to tax it. I really wonder how many people, that have posted here, have emboldened the Left by voting for them?

And after they tax your bicycle, they will want you to register and license your footwear. So the police have a way to track criminals who leave footprints in the snow or upon the foreheads of the old people they knock over. But why stop there? perhaps sidewalks, steps, rugs and welcome mats should be taxed and registered so that old people who trip have a way to tell the police what made them fall.

The very idea of such a law, let alone the presence of those who would endorse it, is more frightening than the very implications of the law itself. A society in this pattern of thinking might easily find various rationalizations for such laws, perhaps now commonplace and reasonable in the increasingly obtuse mentalities of certain urban cultures, but nevertheless in the same demented reference frame as they might find advantages to putting a baby in the garbage disposal. Such a society might equally accept a star of David or blue triangle on their sleeves, as those who remember the concept of studying history – would have clear precedent to believe. The step from licensing of motorized vehicles to non-motorized, superficially anecdotal in appearance, but reaching in particular to a relatively unimposing device only marginally extrinsic to the body’s natural means of travel, constitutes a conceptual insult to our most fundamental human properties, irrespective of the occasional inconveniences of sharing the road. If such a law stands, what limits can we then place on expectations for an epidemic of such rationales? Again, historically, such developments, with their inevitable sequelae in the ongoing degeneracy of a free society, are more than sufficient to ultimately result in civil war.
I recall a member of Congress who was so ignorant as to be afraid that too many people on an island might cause it to sink; in this light, I can only hope that whatever is in the water in the District of Columbia and perhaps New Jersey as well, will never be found in the better portion of our nation.

Dude, I’m a college grad and just earned my Master of Education degree. I could write like you, and I did when I was in school, but here no one will understand you, so tone it down a notch or two and talk to people as my nine year-old would say, “Use regular words, Dad.” Dude, use regular words, because no one will read your contrivances.

It’s about time. Bicyclists weave in and out of traffic, blow through stop signs and red lights with impunity. I had a biker hit my side mirror while I was stopped at a light as wave to me as he pedaled off without even checking if he damaged my car. At least with a plate he could be tracked down. We can give kids a pass on this, but adults who ride their bikes on city streets during rush and business hours should have to register their bikes and have liability insurance.

You think this is for safety? You really need to break the crack pipe and get help. This is 100% for tax revenue. If this does pass and becomes law, it won’t change a thing. The bikers license plate will be to small to read and like car license plates will do NOTHING to prevent anything. This is another tax in the name of safety, so just open your wallet a bit wider in the name of safety.

I drive a car and pay taxs on gas and plates for the upkeep of streets etc. The bikers are a bunch of free loders. Pay up or walk Better yet give them a bike test. Show them they do not own the roads. Must stop a stop signs and give right of way. The party is over, pay your share! PS put your trash in trash cans not my frount yard!!!!!

I have 3 vehicles, and pay taxes on 3 vehicles. Why don’t I have a right to ride my bike on the road, when it is legal to ride my walk, run or even ride a horse on the road without paying taxes? I pay 3 times what most drivers do.

Are you saying people in cars never run red lights?

I’m sorry, but I have every right to ride my bicycle on the street, just like you do.

No way, no way, no way. This makes no sense. If my town, county or the state of PA tried to impose this I’d be protesting! I am a democrat but if I lived in this lady’s district I’d be the first one in line to vote her out.

Dems look at everything they can that can be taxed to pay for their unsustainable social programs. They see everyday activities and say
” We should tax that” like Bank Robbers they see THATS WHERE THE MONEY IS!
They NEVER think of CUTTING their OUT OF CONTROL SPENDING !!!

They are gonna shove that probe up your butt and have you pedal at 20 miles an hour. That way they can see how much your farts pollute the air. Just make sure you didn’t eat any burritos before going to get smogged.

I too think this is a great idea, and wonder why NY hasn’t done the same – they tax everything else here! We have a family of these idiot spandex bikers in my town who careen around on $1000+ bikes riding in the middle of the road and refusing to move over for cars. Have the temerity to pass them and you get a series of “F YOU!” shouting at you. Put a plate on these A-holes so they could at least be reported!

wow, talk about stereotyping! You might not know this but cyclists are allowed to be on the road!! They have just as much of a right to be there as you in your car. What does the cost of a bike have to do with it? Whats next plates for joggers? You must work for the state, need that pension paid for I suppose.

No you do not have the same right as a car. Cars pay taxes but bicyclists do not and generally do not follow the laws of the road. I hope they tax your a$$es off across the country not just in NJ. When states need more revenue, taxing whiny bicyclists seems to be a great idea.

Ask the doctor who passed at high speed and then braked suddenly in front of two bicyclists causing serious injuries. You can reach him at state prison in California. Better to check your brakes and your sanity elsewhere.

Just More taxes for the greedy politicians.. but the troubling part of this is that the politicians will find a way for the program to administer and enforce the law will cost taxpayers alot more than the 10. bucks that the plate will cost.

And why not tax walking on public sidewalk? Or for crossing the street on a traffic light crossing? Or for walking on lit street at night? Or a tax to use police assistance when needed? Or the fire department why not a usage tax? Apparently not enought taxes are paid to support our ever greedy plutocracy that run the world.

Cleopatra must want to impress her great leader in the White House by carrying out his tax and spend philosophy that he and his fellow democratic congress has been perfecting. Really! We need to get these bums out of elected office and replace them with responsible officials.

Actually, some areas charge a fee for fire dept. services. I know in most counties paramedic service was free when I was a kid (1970’s) but now you are subject to bills of around $1,500 for an emergency trip to the hospital in their ambulance. How about a $28,000 bill for services from this fire department in Indiana sent to a family whose house just burned down? http://tinyurl.com/ygvsb5d

10-15 years ago, i would have called this crazy – but if it will in any way regulate the jerk cyclists i have seen recently who regularly create traffic hazards, i’m all for it. At least I would be able to jot down a plate number!

Absolutely! When they use the roads, then they should pay a share of their costs. So many bikers “use” our roads in a “F__K YOU!” manner, and then want a free ride? But $10.00? Why not a percentage of auto registration – like 50% for the slow down they cause to other traffic?

For all of you that are saying tax, tax, tax — Roads are not just paid for from gasoline and other related transportation taxes. Local roads are paid for from property taxes, sales taxes and others. Most states do not even spend all of what they make off of transportation taxes on the roads. It goes into the general fund to be spent on anything and everything. This license fee is just another revenue generator for the state. Do they require a person to get a license plate to walk on the sidewalks? They are built with the same transportation taxes — why aren’t’ the pedestrians required to get a license plate to use the sidewalks??? The license plate for cars has many purposes very little of which revolves around it being a potential funding source for road building or maintenance. A big part of it goes into the administration costs of the Department of motor vehicles. Get your head out of you’re a$$ and start some critical thinking… this is about revenue and not the streets.

This actually makes some sense to me. Maybe they should only have a bike licence/registration if they ride on public roads. If drivers are forced to share the road with bikes, then bikes should be willing to pick up some of the tab for road maintenance. It seems that I’m always stuck behing Mr. Spandex Pants on a 1 lane road, with no room to pass, and there is a perfectly good taxpayer subsidized bike path 10 feet away. If you want to ride the road, pay the fee. The free ride is up!

I don’t bike much, but do run a lot, and always have to laugh when miserable out of shape haters like you give me dirty looks and yell Run Forest Run just because I enjoy being fit and getting off the couch once in a while. I take up all of 2 feet on the side of the road, get over it and simply pass me and carry on being unhappy with your lot in life.

TAX the idiots that use the roads. I’ve been promoting this idea for ages. Think of all the people that would still be alive today if bicycles were BANNED from the roads. If there was a bicycle TAX, then a separate bicycle road could be built just for the IDIOTS!

Let’s look at this logically and consider a couple of points. Most road fees are collected via gasonline or fuel tax. This is the primary funding of all road projects and is the most equitable way to distribute the use of highways. Liscensing is the second process to pay for roads and highways. The fuel tax is in direct proportion to the amount of use except in a few instances and liscensing falls right behind. It makes total sense to charge for road use in the most expedient manner and since bikers do not use fuel the liscensing is the most sensible answer. I am from the deep South, Baton Rouge, La. and they have had bicycle liscensing for years. It makes sense. Pay your fair share to share the road with motor vehichles. Cars have the right of way, don’t forget that. It is a wonder that more cyclist aren’t injured or worse, killed each year. There is far too little control for clyclist at the level of rules and regulations that control them.

Dan, you make a very good point. Public roads are funded by the users of the roads. Any one using any type of transportation on a public road should pay a tax. if a cyclist wants to cycle and not pay a “road” tax then cycle on private property or non-public roads, that’s of course if the law is written correctly.

There is a nautical law that pertains to every single thing, cars, people, animals, birds, fish and even bicycles.

Tonnage has right of way. Your 2 hundred or so pounds gets hit by my 6200 pound pickup. Your dead. There is no arguing, there is no recourse for you. Does not matter who is in the right or wrong. Dead is DEAD.

One of the most corrupt states in the union. There is plenty of control for cyclist — they are held to the same rules of the road as any motor vehicle driver is. In addition, you are talking about a city requirement not a state requirement. You are nothing but a bobble head statist that would agree to any tax.

Yes, cyclists are out of control and must be stopped!!!! (Are you kidding me?)

I’ve seen pictures of the Assemblywoman and I’m guessing she’s never ridden a bike. So this isn’t something that’s going to affect her, which is great for her — great politics.

But consider these points:

1.) Bicycling is a healthy, physical activity, and I’m guessing that most of us would agree that we have an obesity problem in this country. Discouraging bicycling doesn’t help.

2.) NJ isn’t known for its efficient transportation system and blessedly car-free turnpikes. What you need is more people riding bikes for commuting, not less.

3.) Bicycles, by virtue of the fact they weigh next to nothing, do not cause wear-and-tear on roadways, and even if a road surface did wear, a bicycle can ride on a surface in much worse shape than what a car is able to do, so you don’t have to put as much maintenance into bicycle infrastructure.

4.) Good luck chasing down Bobby and Sally and all their friends from school that are riding bikes in the neighborhood without licenses. Go ahead and pass a law that is unenforceable and try pulling over the kids.

And supposedly, at this moment, Cleopatra Tucker has already dropped this non-sensical proposal.

What’s next skate boards and roller skates. Are the politicians out of their minds? This a registration for the state to make money. Nothing else! Just like the home improvement licence, which has no enforcement power! They also want me to pay a ten dollar a year fee for my kids hamster. It’s the same size as a mouse. It cost ten dollars to buy!! How about the 1 percent realty transfer fee the state added a few years ago. Nobody complained. Just wait till you sell your house. All the work you put into it, all the payments and the state gets a piece of your hard work. DO NOT PASS THIS LAW!!!

what will they think of next.? A License plate for any one walking on public roads or sidewalks. These people have too much time on their hands, maybe they should
get a real job and work for a living like the rest of us. they should pay a tax
everytime they open their mouth.

Not quite but soon they will scan your chip as they pass. That way they also have direct access to your bank account when their pockets are light, without having to make up these pseudo-laws to get to it.

When cars stay out of the bike lanes, people stop throwing items out their window, or cutting us off without looking to make right hand turns. Then you might appreciate the “militant cyclist” attitude. As far as the paying road fees, must people I know that ride a bicycle, also own motor vehicles that are sitting in the garage that aren’t on the road that we pay taxes for the use of the road when they sit in the parking.

Yet the Democrats still try to find others to blame after they lost over 600 seats this past election!!!! Biggest turn over since WWII, and most of us are not surprised, yet the Dem leader Pelosi blames Bush for the Dems losing so many seats!! I guess when you only have one line, you can’t change even if your reason makes NO sense at all… but if they had any sense they wouldn’t be liberal.

This is one thing I agree with. If they are used on a public street or highway, let them pay the road tax on whatever vehicle they are operating. They will take up a whole lane backing up traffic and tell you about their right to be on the highway, so let them pay for it. If a bike lane is constructed on the roadway, use the bike tax to pay for it as the money comes available. Why should I pay for the bike lane? I would not use it. If it makes them feel better about it, call it a luxury tax since you are not taxing a necessity but a recreational vehicle.

The Greater Philadelphia area includes areas in NJ (Camden, Cherry Hill, etc.).The article does say “We are asking our New Jersey members” to contact their representatives. I didn’t find the article confusing, but then again, I grew up in NJ

Dead people, unions and our school systems that make sure the kids today are dumb and dumber… That is their voting base. Just say you will increase welfare and boom their voters show up in big numbers!! In Ohio the schools even bus the kids to the polling place and hand them out Dem only voter cards… that’s what it has come to.

How do they keep getting elected? Too many people worried about Lady Gaga, PS3, Brangelina; too many people not reading widely and certainly not applying critical thinking skills; too many people naively thinking government, elected reps and bureacrats have your best interest at heart; too many people wanting to be led and cared for like little children; and too many people just going with the flow…after all 60 percent of the country can’t be wrong!!!
Are you awake yet?

The above is a link to the Denvor mayor’s office, towards the bottom you’ll see his advisory commission which exists in an effort to make Denver a “bicycle friendly” city. Additionally, if there is a conservative councilman in San Francisco, it would be the first one in decades. I read the national news, lots of it, and I have yet to see anything about “conservatives” beliveing biking is part of a UN conspiracy. A conspiracy to do what . . . not walk? Exercise? You clearly make up your own facts, so you won’t be confused by your prejudices.

Rob, people walk on the roads and sidewalks… they need registered for that too???? What about them runners??? Do the bikes tear up the streets?? Why not make you have a license for your lawn mower? Im sure you push that on the sidewalk from time to time. How about we tax kids that play in the street too, man we could make some good money. You just have to think like a democrat and you can come up with lots of ways to take other peoples money they work hard for and give to people that did nothing with their lives.

Looks like politicians trying to squeeze money from those that are trying to be healthy. Why not tax the alcoholics more, if they are stupid enough to drink, they should be the ones that pay the highest taxes. oh wait, most of the politicians drink alcohol, they don’t want to be taxed too much.

Back in the sixties and seventies NJ was the butt of jokes on late night TV all of the time. Nothing has changed as NJ is still a joke. Hopefully Christie can rid the state of its tax, tax, spend carelessly mantra. Veto this stupid tax.
One question. If I live in PA, NY or DE and ride my bike into NJ will I be fined $100 for not having a license. Will I be pulled over numerous times as a visitor because I do not have a plate? This is another excellent reason to never go to NJ.

Hillropper Moron:
Perhaps we should license skatboarders and place little plates on them? Better yet, let’s require a license on all running shoes because we all know those runners are all over the streets and sidewalks…they can be so reckless.

the bike trails are the way the government protects their citizens and insures good health and safety of their citizens, i.e., responsible government. Money does not matter any more. They have all the money in the world. They pay for everything by printing more paper.

Because we’re all bicycle riding, tent living, dope smoking, hippie loving, anti-government wangers who don’t have jobs or pay taxes and who don’t have a brain in our heads. Of if we do have jobs, we make too much money and should be penalized because we’re successful business people who grew up with silver spoons in our mouths and who don’t deserve a dime of our success – all of the dimes we own should be put into the pockets of those who want to sit around and watch “The Price Is Right” with Drew Cary every day while they eat their government subsidized cheese, Pringles, and bon-bons. That’s about it.

That would be ok, but under the equal protection clause you would have to do exactly the same thing to motorists and pedestrians, and don’t try to tell me those groups are innocent of any of the listed ‘offences’. (Street Terrorism is of course an utterly idiotic charge to raise)

And bikers should be fingerprinted. Also training wheel bikes and children younger than 7 should be prohibited from riding a bike. Mothers should be responsible for any damage a bike may cause, including if a biker hurts a squirrel. Speed limits for bikes should be established – no more than 15 miles per hour. No riding on the sidewalk or else suspend the license and impound the bikes. Jail terms for repeat offenders. Government owns us, we work for them.

Not only should people who ride on public roads be required to have plates, they should be required to carry insurance as well since they’re responsible for the vast majority of the accidents they’re involved in.

On my daily drive to and from work I witness at three three or four bikers violating traffic laws, engaged in reckless, irresponsible and illegal acts that cause or nearly cause accident.

On my daily drive to and from work I witness 20 or 30 drivers violating traffic laws, engaged in reckless, irresponsible and illegal acts that cause or nearly cause an accident. Not to mention all the people who are speeding.

A person on a bike that weighs less than 50 pounds and goes 15 mph is responsible for the vast majority of accidents with 2-ton vehicles capable of 120mph? It’s like trying to ram a speedboat with a raft.
How much insurance? How much damage can a bike rider do? Will a bike total your car? The drive rof the bike will often sustain serious injury, while the car driver will not be injured at all.
On my drive to work, I see far more that 2 or 3 drivers cutting people off, running traffic signals, not using directionals, and various other irresponsible actions that can (and do) cause accidents. Guess you don’t see those, huh?

And there’s a reason we don’t do it any more… It isn’t cost effective and is more of a hassle than any thing else. Bicycles don’t pollute, don’t make a lot of noise, don’t damage the road way like heavy cars and trucks do, and it promotes good health on the part of the riders. The state would be better served doing more to encourage citizens to ride bikes instead of trying to tap them as a revenue source.

Yet another measure to limit freedom of movement/transportation… Most cyclists own a motor vehicle or two anyway and already pay road use taxes. Why should they be taxed again for choosing another form of transportation to use on the roads they already pay for? More incentive to ride bikes should be given, not less.

Motor vehicle drivers don’t pay for the right to the roads they use – do you pay a tax to drive in another city? Drive to a neighboring state – how much in taxes do you have to pay to have the right to drive there? Is it about zero?

Tax on sneakers? That is a great idea – – will help maintain sidewalks. Probably best to just add that tax to shoe store sales. And maybe even tax stores that sell pants to help maintain park benches.

What insight! Seems to open up all kinds of taxing possibilities. I wonder how we can get together and tax ideas? Of course, politicians would be exempted because their ideas are about taxes which will bring in more money.

1) Road taxes and you call them go into the general fund. Therefore, bicyclist who pay taxes are already paying for the roads.
2) What about people bicycling through the state. How are you going to charge them?

Man, it must really suck to live up there. I’d love to see a politician try to pull some stuff like that down here in the South. Hahaha, you guys are getting taxed out the wazzoo and still maintain a sense of arrogance over the rest of the country.. Buncha dummys!

I agree with you Kent and I live in NY (Western, not NYC). We have to listen to all sorts of “you hicks upstate who must live in mobile homes and drive trucks” comments from “the city” folk because we prefer a rural environment rather than filthy city living (in my opinion).

What is funny about your comment is how ignorant it is, especially the first one considering Sarah Palin never said it, which is whom you were alluding. That would be Tina Fay from SNL who said it as a jab towards Sarah Palin. Next time you want to make fun of someone try getting at least some of the facts right.

We need to get something straight. This is not a tax on the bike. It is a road use tax. Motorcycle riders pay it. Car owners pay it. $10 for a 2 or 3 year road use tax? I w2ould LOVE to get by with that on my Harley. This taxation is paid twice over by car owners and motorcyclist. They pay for the license and the tax (state and federal) on gasoline. So they are paying for the roads you people on bikes use while you are interfering with their paid for movement along the streets. You bike riders did not pay for these road, the people in cars and on motorcycles did. According to this report, you can own a bike and ride it in the dirt and not have a license. It is a ROAD TAX for bikes!

I didn’t ask them to build this road or this sidewalk. Only a liberal like you would think it made SENSE to register a BICYCLE with the MOTOR VEHICLES DIVISION. Those roads were built with MY MONEY and they are maintained yearly with MY MONEY already. To institute a new tax is just greedy.

@asdasdasd: Really? Are you serious? The rent payment covers many things that the owner may be responsible for, including mortgage, insurance, repairs, security, utilities AND PROPERTY TAXES. The owner collects the rent and pays his property taxes. Do you think the entire rent payment is spent by the owner on vacations, cars and bling? Please stop voting.

I own two cars and a motorcycle. I’ve more than paid for my right to ride my bicycle on the same roads. Most states are moving to make their land more bicycle-friendly which reduces wear and tear on said roads (and bikes are completely emissions-free)… only a hell-hole like New Jersey would try to discourage people from riding bikes.

hey thomas,I think next time you see
somebody on a bike riding on your road,
you should run them over.that will show
them.hey heres a idea maybe people walking
on sidewalkes should should get a license.I
know a good place they could stick it

I think your Harley / Car does a whole lot more damage to the road than bikes do. You could pour a concrete road and it would last 100 years with little to no maintenance if the only things that traveled on it were bikes. The amount of damage caused to roads is directly proportional to the weight and number of vehicles traveling on it. This is why people want to tax semi-trucks more because they do more damage to roads. So, since the average car is maybe 3,000 pounds and my bike weighs about 15 pounds, I should pay about 0.5% of what car owners are paying. I would love for you to prove that every biker causes $5 of damage to roads a year. There’s just no way that’s true.

Great comment Thomas. Bike riders think they have some unalienable right to just do what they want. I see bikers in their yellow spandex blow through stop signs and red lights so they don’t have to be bothered to unclip. I see them riding two or three abreast in the bike lane, spilling out into traffic and force cars to go around them. I’ve seen morons ride down the right side of a long line of cars waiting for a light, then blow through the light.

Those things are ILLEGAL for bikers too. You also have to stop at stop signs and red lights. If it’s an inconvenience for you to unclip, don’t use clips. It’s your choice.

And now they don’t want to pay a measly $5 a year. What ingrates.

They only want to follow the rules they think apply to them. They only want to follow the rules they think apply to them. Heaven forbid that they get a rule the rest of us that ride on the roads have to follow also.

There is no such thing as a “road use tax”. If there were, you would not be allowed to operate a motor vehicle anywhere but where you live and pay taxes. Get a road use tax for your Harley, and you would have to pay to ride your cycle anywhere. Road use is free to the public, as is use of parks and libraries.

Of course! When your state doesn’t have enough real criminals, pass new statutes to extort money from honest people, or make them criminals by the stroke of a pen.
“Cleopatra”? Any stereotypes being reinforced here?

“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws.” -Ayn Rand

Only took 141 years for this idea to go from nuts to reasonable, with most of that movement happening in the last 2 years. There is money to be made from the invention of a license plate holder for our butts. I know that a license for walking seems nuts but… give it time.

Agreed. They tax things until people stop buying them. The tax revenue then runs out, so they find something else to tax. They are now essentially trying to tax you for breathing since DEP declared the carbon that you exhale a pollutant.

So, what’s next I have to register my kite with the FAA? This is just another tax to soak the NJ tax payer and create more chaos at MV! Seriously this woman is an IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!! And to the enviro NUTS…….we are not europe out landscape does not allows us to ride bikes like they do in Europe.

If you substitute the word car driver in your logic you’ll see you argument doesn’t make ANY sense. Automobiles are taxed when bought, when sold, when licensed, and every time you buy gas yet drivers drive the wrong way, breeze thru stop signs, and swerve from lane to lane like it’s NASCAR. This is all about generating revenue for the state under the guise of public safety. When will politicians learn, after everyone leaves and they cannot tax anyone?

Portland, Oregon, Take a hint! Cyclists need to be registered and taxed just like automobile drivers and pay their fair share for the public resources they use like bike lanes, public bike parking, etc. They also need to have identification the public can see on their bikes so they can be reported when they commit a criminal act or endanger other people on thier bikes. You can report a car with a license plate to the police and there’s no reason criminals on bikes should be able to get away with breaking road laws and putting others in danger.

So all pedestrians should also have identification the public can see so they can be reported when they commit a criminal act or endanger other people. Because pedestrians shouldn’t get away with mugging people or jaywalking or any other criminal act you can do while walking. And just to be fair, wheelchairs will also need to have identification the public can see. Don’t want them to fee left out.

How about a law where everyone has to wear tshirts with their name, address, SSN, and phone number on them? That way they can be reported when they commit a criminal act or endanger others.
What public resources do bike riders consume? Do they cause road damage that requires maintenance? Do they require emissions testing? I didn’t realize that bike lanes were so wide that they required so many resources.

I have no problem with this. I would make it a sticker decal type thing. They are cheaper so it would cost the state less and the more for registration could be used in the “highway fund” or earmarked for bike paths. So the bike riders would start to help pay for the roads they use. Many bikes have a registration or serial numbers on them that could be used with this. It would also help in returning stolen bikes to their owners. Some of those bikes cost $1,000 or more. Not mine of course. Mine is a Wal-Mart $150 personal transport device.

This is a sign of more government control. After the initial license they will start requiring a safety test, then a bike insection, then a specific type of seat or brakes, then a bicycle safety course and an operator license. Please! We have enough government control and enough fines, fees, and taxes. Leave the bikes alone!

I love the idea for any bike using public roads. Plus, they should be insured, just like any other vehicle using roadways. I can’t tell you how many near accidents I’ve seen because of bicyclists on the roadways.

I can’t tell you how many near accidents I’ve seen due to inattentive drivers, in their urban assult vehicles, talking/texting, eating, putting on make-up, reading, screaming at kids in the back etc.? What are you going to do about them, tax them even more?

Amen. My husband was a victim of driver negligence as he was riding his bike in the designated area of the road with all of the appropriate cycling gear, etc. It almost killed him. Figures that the government who wants us to address obesity problems will then tax one of the ways we can avoid it.

If motorists treated bicyclists with more respect, I would gladly pay for a license plate. Maybe a license plate on the back of bicycles would let the public know that we have a right to be on the road.

Why not? Bikes being ridden on public roads should carry liability insurance. Inattentive/entitled bikers do sometimes hit cars, and otherwise cause accidents. If a bike hits my car, I want them to pay to fix it, I shouldn’t have to pay for new door panels, or their hospital bills.

All should have known this was coming. A recent article in the BBC discussed imposing licensing on bicyclist; for safety reasons, as well. It’s obvious this is a ploy to suck more from the public; a public already reeling under the onerous weight of ravenous wolves.

So, rather than pass regulations that would protect the public from the actions of dangerous bicyclist and hold them to account, all of us are called upon to make up for so-much mismanagement of our monies. When I saw the aforementioned BBC article, I winced at the (now evident) prospect of this ‘tax’ finding its way to my – already overburdened – wallet.

I am a life-long bicyclist who utilizes all necessary safety gear. I make a point of observing all traffic control processes. I pay a massive amount of money in income taxes. For all of my self-imposed discipline, this is my reward for doing what’s right. When this law is passed, I will make a point of neither registering my ‘vehicle’ nor will I pay the resulting fine for not doing so! I will make sure that the state wastes thousands of dollars processing me through the system. When I get out, I’ll return to the courts to seek damages for their actions. Unlike the cowards and fools who bow to these criminals, I will make sure they waste every dollar that they take in from my fellow cyclists!

Always remember that it is fear that got us here and it will be fearlessness that breaks the chains.

For all your self-stated supposed adherence to bicycle laws, this I won’t pay the fines, full of yourself attitude is the very thing that creates disdain for bikers by many drivers. Bikers, at least in the Portland area, who ride three abreast even on two lane roads, and obstruct construction of new roadways and bridges that don’t contain enough (what is enough?) bike space don’t do anything to endear themselves to the general public that is financing their bike space.

If bikers are going to occupy lanes, and absorb tax dollars for bike lanes, etc, they should bear some of the burden, not drivers, paying gas taxes and vehicle registrations to use autos on the road.

Bikes should not only be registered, but the riders, particularly on busy roadways, should be licensed and insured.

No, no, no, you all misunderstand. She isn’t taxing bicycles. She’s much more brilliant than anyone else. And this really is the most important issue to tackle right now.
This is a regulatory notification upgrade utilizing hexadecimally unique characters via legal enforcement in order to raise revenue for children affected by non-governmental stimulus decriments.

And of course, the wonderful DMV is the best agency to handle this. They’re generally pretty chipper about being asked to do little things like work for a living. No way this could backfire.

OMG! This is the most pathetic idea I’ve evr heard of! I have an idea you imbicile of a politician, why don’t you think of a way to reduce taxes for the people??? oh yeah I forgot that dems don’t want to help people!

Heres a another side for your consideration…I watch cyclists continually blow through stop signs, ride the wrong side of the road, etc,etc….. on a regular basis. Not just the children, or homeless, but the spandex & helmet clad ” serious ” cyclists wearing their cycling club jerseys. I am a cyclist, and was a bike cop. I am embarrassed by the actions of so many cyclists……Hey tear up the tickets and have your drivers license suspended. Your call

DJ, my wife’s been hit by a cyclist before, the point is this goes too far. Have more bike cops if its that big of an issue, but I’ve seen plenty of cyclists die in accidents because of the reasons you stated.

I’m not having anything suspended because I will REFUSE to obey this law any other…what are they going to do put thousands of people in prision? Sorry, but people have had enough of the nanny state.

Wow makes me want to move to Utah and ride in Salt Lake City. I just singed up for the FrontRunner Century Ride in April. Maybe I will look for a new home out there at that time. http://www.frontrunnercentury.com

Why shouldn’t thos who ride bicycles on public streets not help pay for the very bike lanes that motorists and gas taxes pay for. They’ve got a free ride all these years. It’s time they pay their fair share.

Using that logic, then pedestrians on the sidewalk should be taxed because there tens of thousands pedestrians for every bicycle and all those feet must be causing maintenance issues for sidewalks and walk lanes to cross the street – let’s just tax, tax, tax everyone for everything.

Ignorance about how roads are paid for aside, the culturally intolerant would lose an argument against those that they perceive impede their absolute right to own the road. Please also issue pedestrian license plates too. Then they can be more easily identified when they get in the way. They also have been getting a free ride since before there were roads!

Im sure the funds wont be raided by the state govenment. all of these trusts will say they reserve the right for the money to be transfered to the state general fund. Just vote her out of office and the problem is solved.

I own three bikes, my wife has two, my son has one, I have a bike trailer for my sons to ride in, or for getting things home from the store. Will I have to get a plate for all of them every two years?

So $35/year(if it’s $70/2) for a healthy hobby that my family enjoys.

I’m sure this will lead to a database where the bike’s serial number has to registered, and I will have to present all of my paperwork to the officer when if I do anything they aren’t fans of. Since i normally don’t ride with my DL on me (just my health insurance card) any current stop by an officer I could lie about my identity or address since there is no proof. I’m sure this will only make it easier, or more encouraged, for officers to write tickets to riders since there will be proof of identity.

The state needs more money to give to the rich corporations, CEOs and their lobbyists. Where else will the state get money from if it’s not poor working class? IL came up with 66% increase in state income tax; NJ with licenses plates(taxes) and fines on bicycles.
They should just come up with a simple tax law that says, GO WORK FOR THE RICH FOR FREE; coz that’s how it is now anyway.

The huge plus to this is that bikes on roads will now be legitimized and cyclists can demand a better infrastructure for bikes. The assemplywoman is not seeing the big picture in all this (big surprise, I know) but with the licenses come rights. Rights to actually be on the road, rights to demand better lanes, rights to file a legitimate complain against irresponsible driving. Think about it.

I’m picturing vanity plates on the back of shoes where the “Uggs” logo usually is. Would the bicycles also need to go through a state safety inspection? What about turn signals and brake lights? How about a permanent tattoo plate on the back of the neck?

This is OUT OF HAND. Instead of wanting MORE from those of us already struggling, CUT BACK on the ridiculous things you spend money on. They just don’t listen. It’s always MORE ‘N MORE ‘N MORE. You can’t get blood from a stone!! How ’bout some of these wealthy politicians coming up with all these ideas start taking some from their own pockets!!!!

Where does the money go? Pensions for government employees. You have to pay for the money the current pigs have blown on stupid stuff, and you also have to pay for the stupid stuff the previous pigs purchased — and cover their health care — and pay them a salary for the rest of their lives.

This is not sustainable. Current taxpayers are stuck with the tab of the past, but you sure can change the contracts of the folks there now — don’t like it? Find another job. Plenty of qualified people on the street right now that will do YOUR job more effectively.

They’ve has years of practice, but so have the Republicans.. How can we stop it? Don’t vote for anyone who is in favor of increased spending. If a new program is needed, discontinue some old programs. Freeze government spending and employment now and demand that public employee salary and retirement plans do not exceed the average in the private sector.

So funny but so true…Every here watch Obama and his specatal he had in AZ last night? It was the kick off for his 2012 cp. How about the soldiers family who some dumb congress paerson could’nt even get the name right (Proof democrats/liberals can’t read or write) on the letter to the dead soldiers family. Then when that soldiers family tried to call Obama and speak with him they were told he was to DAMN BUSY!!! But he sure made time for an democrat who got shot didn’t he!!!! I say VOTE HIM and the REST of his crew out come 2012!